


Skaia High

by iridescentWordforger



Series: Skaia High [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-26 14:06:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2654765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iridescentWordforger/pseuds/iridescentWordforger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All the characters in. Homestuck are at a school, and stuff happens, especially because the school is really strange to give me, and hopefully the you, the reader, amusement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably not going to include all those characters up there, and probably going to include more than all those ships up there, because this is going to be a bunch of randomly segmented parts and I'll have to create the character's schedules and stuff.
> 
> Yes, I know this is the least original thing I could think of, but it's past midnight and I'm lonely and scared (because of insanity) and writing stories of fictional characters having romantic relationships will probably ease the pain somewhat.
> 
> I am so sorry for the last names Dirksbro and Roxysmom. I didn't think through the whole ancestors/guardians being the teachers thing. And yes, this does mean we're going to have a Johnsdad in Home Economics. It will be "wonderful".
> 
> Also, JohnRox is now kind of a canon thing, which is wonderful.

"Listen, I keep telling you. There's this one locker in the boys' bathroom, and my bro got assigned it."

John didn't believe him the first time, and refused to believe all times afterward. He had an older sibling that had been going to the school as well, but Jane never said anything. She just ranted about romantic tribulations, and, oddly enough, Dave's bro, Dirk Strider, whom had stolen her boyfriend, even if he wasn't her boyfriend yet, and was really stupid. He had not been given any prime information about whatever experiences might await him, other than those about romantic tribulations involving a certain pointed-shades-wearing 'scumbag' who might cross his path and steal his boyfriend. John thought this was all unlikely.

"It's not that I don't fucking believe you, it's that he won't be using his fucking locker." Karkat responded. "One miserable maggot is bound to urinate on it every day. At least one. Your bro's in for for a really fucking bad time. He's getting it changed, right?"

Dave nodded gravely. "Yeah. He wants to give it to me, but I don't want it."

Jane had told him countless times. Dirk Strider WAS bad news.

"I say," Karkat offered, "that you take it and then steal Tavros's or something. It's not like he could do anything about it. You're stronger than he is. He tried to rap with you once, and completely flopped. Also, he doesn't need a locker. He can carry everything around on that fucking wheelchair of his. There's this thing on the back, or at least Gamzee could add a thing on the back, if they really are a pair as they're speculated to be. Hell, even if they aren't-"

"I don't think you should." John interrupted. "I mean, it's not very nice to Tavros, even if he doesn't need it."

"Then we can reason." Dave suggested. "Rap battle. I win, it's mine. He wins, it's his. Besides, this is all speculative, if Dirk does succeed in passing off his locker to me."

They all sat in the cafeteria, at a table near the corner of the room. It had enough space for four people, but Karkat's book bag occupied the fourth slot. It was their first day of their first year of high school at Skaia High, and none of them really knew what to do. They had all gotten their schedules at least, in first period, which everyone had in the gym at the beginning of the first day. Their lockers had been assigned to them then also. So far, only Dave and John had had Government (2nd period) together, and no other class periods had been so nice as to match up. They were in the process of comparing schedules when Dave brought up the issue of bathroom lockers, which seemed just as unlikely the first time as it had the most recent.

Lunch was staggered, into three groups, in order to ease the congestion around the relatively small lunchroom area. Each fifth period had a certain lunch students would go to. First happened before, second happened in the middle, and third happened after. The three of them all luckily had first lunch, meaning they could talk during this. Unfortunately, their fourth and fifth members, Terezi Pyrope and Jade Harley (John's twin sister) had been cut off in either second or third. No one knew.

"What do you have fifth, anyway?" Karkat took John's schedule. "Art? Fuck. Sixth is lit... fuck. Seventh is gym. Good. We have gym together." He took Dave's schedule. "Nope, no, and no. We don't have any classes together. But you have sixth with John. Have fun reading books."

"Not gonna happen." Dave responded. "Books are lame."

"Yeah." John agreed. "Movies are better. I'm sure you agree too, Karkat, with your romcom stash?"

"Shut the fuck up." Karkat responded swiftly. "It's art."

Two students holding a paper walked up to their table. One was a troll with a cat-like demeanor, and the other looked very nervous and sweaty. His hair was tied back in a ponytail. "I'm Meulin Leijon, and we'd like you to sign up for shipping club." One of them said, handing John a pen and the paper, presumably the sign-up sheet." "We meet every Wednesday and Friday afternoon, and whenever there's emergency romantic tribulations."

"Dirk wasn't kidding." Dave looked at the paper strangely.

"Fuck no." Karkat shook his head.

"Um, no thank you?" John handed the pen and the paper back. "I mean no offense to you or anything, but I'm just not really interested in that."

The cat girl, Meulin, she said she was, looked depressed. "Oh, okay then..." She walked on to the next table, while her partner told something to her. She greeted the next table with the same exuberance she had greeted the trio.

"I thought he just didn't want to do homework." Dave buried his head in his arms. "And all this time..."

"All this time what?" John asked.

"The shipping club is an actual thing. I thought he was kidding, and wanted to get out of work, but he'd just say that he'd need to go to the shipping club, and Dad would let him. Dad knew... all this time."

"How were you so sure of the locker, then?" Karkat inquired coldly.

"I saw it." Dave answered, still shuddering in disbelief. "On the second floor, to the right of Ms. Mindfang's room. Me and John have her for Government, second period. I went in there on my way to second period. I could believe that, but this is a bit too much."

"You recover form that." Karkat turned his gave to John. "Dave's out of commission."

"I noticed." John chuckled awkwardly.

"So..." Karkat tried to keep conversation.

"Yeah..."

"What do you have fifth period?"

"Art; Mr. Dirksbro."

"I have Lit; Darkleer."

"I have him sixth."

"Small world."

They didn't say anything for a while, waiting for Dave to recover from shock. They had known each other for years, but couldn't think of anything worthwhile to say. It was strange, not being able to converse with a friend because another member of your group had just fallen unconscious.

"I'd have thought you'd have liked the shipping club." John finally said.

"No." Karkat objected. "Fuck no. Why would I do that? It's a creepy cat girl and her sweaty sidekick.why would I ever want to join a club where they'd be around me constantly?"

"You can't judge a book by its cover." John responded.

"I should have expected something so cliché f-"

A loud bell interrupted Karkat in the middle of his sentence, signaling the end of lunch, or first lunch anyway. As they left, Karkat finished his sentence. "From you."

John tried to suppress a smile. "I think you really don't care what they're like. You're going to sign up tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Shut the fuck up." Karkat nearly shouted, and was consumed by the mob of students heading the opposite direction of John, towards Darkleer's Literature class. Dave headed towards Math, and John went to Art, on the third floor.

The floor was flooded in parts of the third floor where Empress and Dualscar taught, which was rather inconvenient, and everyone's knees and down were wet when John got to fifth period. No one seemed happy about the water, except Feferi, who was in this class, and Cronus. Apparently, though, they were implementing a bridge system, or a way around the water, after Tavros's lusus threatened to sue.

John scanned the room, and picked a seat as far away from Cronus as possible. But he sacrificed that plan after he discovered Jade was also in art this period, and had an empty seat right next to her. They were fairly close to Cronus, but it was no matter. They had to sit together for the sake of FRIENDSHIP.

"If you have Art this period, didn't you have first lunch?" Jade asked as soon as he sat down.

"Yeah." John responded. With Dave and Karkat. We couldn't find you."

"Dang it. Where were you sitting?"

"Near the corner, right of the entrance."

"Okay. I'll try to find you next time." Jade smiled. "So, how have you been doing?"

"Fine, if a bit exasperated." John answered. "I have this one class, taught by Ms. Roxysmom and she's kind of terrifying. But then again, it's Dark Arts, so what do you expect?"

"I find it curious how they even offer Dark Arts at this school." Jade said. "And why it's necessary to take them. I have her seventh period, I think. Is she bad?"

"I guess?" John shrugged. "She says she'll expect us to write a lot. And she's kind of terrifying, being very dark and all. She carries knitting needles around, which she uses to preform spells. She blew up a desk with dark energy, and then said that kid's first project grade was to buy her a new one. So you might not have a desk."

Jade didn't know what to make of this. "I'll be careful, then..."

"Don't get on her bad side, I guess." John said. "Because that might just prove disastrous. That's really the only advice I can give you in that department.

"Thanks." Jade said, turning to face the front. The teacher had just started writing his name on the board, which was customary for teachers.

Mr. Dirksbro was what he would like to be called. He drew a couple of bad cartoons, and then faced the class.

"Today, class, we will all be introducing ourselves, customary of high school tradition, even though it isn't really customary nor practiced. This we will do this for the first week. All this introduction will count as a test grade." He then added "ironically."

"Dave would like this teacher." John whispered to Jade. She nodded.

Dirksbro checked a piece of paper that had all the students' names on it, and called roll, pronouncing all their names wrong on purpose, and not letting them correct him. He then began the introduction. "We'll do this alphabetically, because it's more convenient that way. Cronus Ampora, will you please introduce yourself?"

Cronus, who had taken a seat in the middle of the room, now stood. His hair was slicked back, and he wore a plain white T-shirt and jeans. This was obviously some fashion statement to be made here, but John completely missed.

"I," Cronus pointed to himself smugly, "am Cronus Ampora. I am very glad to meet you all here to day, and I would like to meet all of you in return. Maybe we could be friends, or even more than that." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at a girl sitting on the other side of John, making her hide her face in her scarf, "I am truly the personification of the suffering artist, as I have written numerous songs, but no one recognizes me for them because they all hate me personally just because of unlawful prejudices. You see, I am really a 1950s era greaser trapped in the body of a troll. None have pity on my heart, and I am not even allowed to express myself in ways soci-"

"You may sit down." Mr. Dirksbro commanded. "Next, we have... Mituna Captor."

"But I wasn't finished!" Cronus complained, stomping his foot down in anger.

"You may sit down now. You can do part two of your introduction tomorrow. Remember, we'll be doing this all week."

"Nyeh!" Cronus sit down reluctantly, thundering into his chair and then slumping down immediately afterwards for dramatic effect.

"He's not standing anymore, is he?" The scarf girl to John's right asked, whispering.

"No." John whispered.

She brought her head up, and turned to face Mituna, who now, stood, blathering words incomprehensible to human or troll ears. Mituna rambled on for a while, said something that was probably 'I'm done now', and sat down.

"Next, we have John Egbert." Mr. Dirksbro announced.

John stood, and faced the class. What did he do? "Um, I'm John Egbert."

"Boo! You suck!" Someone near the back of the class whisper-shouted, mocking disapproval.

"I like playing pranks."

He sat down.

"Why thank you, Mr. Egbert." Mr. Dirksbro sighed. "Next up, Jade Harley."

Jade stood up, smiling to the class and waving. Everyone here looked so friendly! Except that Cronus guy. He was a creep. But other than him, this would probably be a great experience. She proceeded to tell the class that, and about her interests in squiddles, and considered telling them about Prospit, but didn't, and left on a concluding note, as all conclusions should have.

Note: John and Jade have different last name due to their parent not changing their names when they got married. When considering which last name to give the children, they deciding to give John the father's name and Jade the mother's name. Unfortunately, they both died and the children had to be raised by their grandparents, on different sides, corresponding to their last names.

"Roxy Lalonde, please stand." Mr. Dirksbro said.

The girl to the right of John stood. She didn't seem certain of what to do, but she was smiling. She greeted everyone with a wave. "My name is Roxy Lalonde. I am looking forward to a great year with everyone." She sat back down.

"You do know you're getting graded on this?" Mr. Dirksbro asked. "At least Egderp here told some of his interests. Do you have any interests that you would like to share with the class?"

"I'm in Beta Club." She said, standing up again, then sitting immediately back down.

"Fair enough." The teacher reasoned. "Next, we have Meulin Leijon."

The remainder of class continued this way. The bell had rung just as Horuss Zahhak, the ponytail sweaty guy that had been with Meulin finished. Lucky for him, Joh supposed.

Literature was next. Dave was in that class also, but they couldn't talk much due to assigned seats and SILENCE ALWAYS NO EXCEPTIONS.

Gym was last, and it was simple. There was really nothing to do on the first day, so everyone just sat around and talked. John had this class with Roxy as well, along with Dirk. The two of them talked on the opposite side of the bleachers. Strange, he hadn't expected them to be friends. Gamzee, disconcertingly, was also in that class, and he hung around John and Karkat, mostly silent. John wondered how Gamzee might be able to pass gym, but he knew there was no hope of Gamzee getting anything over a 70.

After seventh period was over, it was an exodus to the buses. John had never noticed it before, but Roxy rode his bus. And Jane sat next to her, talking about stuff and things. How could he have not known of this girl sooner? It seemed strange, like she could just hide herself when she wanted to. Had she ever been over to his house, accompanied by Jane, of course? Maybe. Had she ever had a full-blown conversation with him? Maybe. He needed to talk to her.

But not today.


	2. In Which Things Happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plot begins to happen. Our quintet, minus Terezi Pyrope because she doesn't appear often enough (I need to give her more screen time), finds a mystery when a girl asking them for club stuff gets possessed (or something) temporarily, and when a mysterious spider girl kind-of threatens to reveal Roxy's kind-of secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually was planning to delete the first one, which everyone will have to admit, is written even more terribly than this one, but someone gave me kudos on it and it made my day forever. Thank you eternally to that person. I've never been recognized for anything, so someone liking something that. I've written feels amazing. There are no words to describe what an amazing person you are. So thank you. Forever. Wait, apparently there are two people. You are the single (double?) most amazing people. Thank both of you very much.
> 
> The next chapter will probably be split in two, with part following John, per normal, and part following Dave, like this one did awkwardly at the beginning there. The part with Dave will feature Terezi, so yay.

"What's your first period?" Karkat took Dave's schedule, and examined it. None of them had paid any attention to the others' first periods at lunch yesterday, as it hadn't been of as much matter then as fifth, sixth, and seventh. "Gym? Good luck. It was torture yesterday. Highblood works you like you're dogs."

Dave took his schedule back in dismay. "Somehow I don't think you did anything."

"We didn't." John said.

Karkat glared at him. "What's your first period?" He took John's schedule. "Good. I have first period with you. Home Economics."

"You have Johnsdad first period also?" Terezi looked up from the pseudo-bowl-type-thing-schools-serve-for-breakfast of Lucky Charms (so many colors). "We will all bake the most delicious cakes together!"

"I thought I had Janesdad." John took his schedule back. "I do. There are two Home Ec teachers."

"Bullshit." Karkat sighed. "At least you're in there, Terezi. I think that's a good thing."

Terezi chugged the marshmallow dust at the bottom of the PBTTSSFB of Lucky Charms, licking the last remaining crumb that might reside there. "It isn't." She cackled maniacally, not unusual for her.

"Jade, what do you-" Karkat scanned the cafeteria. "Where's Jade?"

"She's off to make new friends, she says." John answered. "She's going to enter a club, I think, and is looking at all the available options and finding which one is right for her and whatnot. She'll probably join multiple."

"I bet it'll be robotics." Dave said. "She likes machines and whatnot, doesn't she? I need to tell her Dirk's in there. She'd better be careful around him."

"He always comes up in our conversations." Karkat groaned. "Why is that? What is so special about Mr. Dirk Strider?"

Dave shrugged. "He's just socially active, especially since he's my brother, and the thief of John's sister's love interest. And your secret crush."

Karkat groaned. "Here we go again. I keep telling you, I don't like him."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm going to warn Jade now." Dave left the cafeteria, dodging through mobs of people. Where was the club-sign-up-place-thing? Probably near the front of the building or the office. All the club-sign-up-sheet-things were on tables along the edges of the circular entrance, the cat girl at one at the sweaty ponytail guy at another. Dave had though they'd be at the same one. Jade was at the table run by the sweaty ponytail guy.

"Dirk's in that club, you know." Dave walked up to her.

"I know." She responded. "Dave, this is Horuss. Horuss, this is Dave."

Horuss managed a shy wave.

"Hello Horuss." Dave said. "But Jade, I don't think it's exactly a good idea to sign up for a club Dirk will be in. I mean, you know he-"

"Always about Dirk, isn't it?" Jade asked sarcastically. "To be honest, I don't see what's so wrong with the guy."

"Me neither." Dave admitted. "But he's just, like, he was kicked out of Home Ec for sewing an inappropriate puppet. He does puppet porn. I don't exactly want his stuff to rub off on you."

"I know." Jade said. "I think that's cool. You're sooooo cooooooooool. But Dirk's cool too. You don't have to be protective of me. I'm not as innocent as I seem, Dave!"

He couldn't exactly think of a response to this, but luckily for him, the bell rang. He needed to head to the gym, and Jade needed to head to math with Ms. Empress.

Meanwhile, John was having trouble opening the door to Mr. Janesdad's room. It seemed fastened to the wall, like a decoration.

Tavros rolled up behind him. "Um, what are you doing?" He asked.

"The door won't open." John explained.

"So it's locked?"

"I guess."

"Then why are you still trying to open it?"

John took his hands off the doorknob, and turned to face Tavros in the spider-filled hallway. Mr. Janesdad's room was opposite Ms. Mindfang's. The alleged bathroom-locker was just a short distance from them, but neither cared at this point. They hadn't cared to begin with, and Tavros hadn't even heard of it.

"So what do we do?" He asked. "There are already several people in there, including Roxy." Why did he think of her specifically? Yes, she had been in there. He had seen her through the window in the door, but there were other people also, such as Horuss, or Kanaya. Or Rose. Rose and John had been friends in elementary school, but then she started to get really creepy and worship tentacles monsters of the netherworld and stuff.

"Who's Roxy?" Tavros asked.

"The one in the scarf." John pointed, soon after realizing that Tavros's wheelchair didn't provide him enough height to see through the window. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's fine." Tavros assured him, somewhat nervous. "I didn't mean to, uh... Just describe her to me."

"She's blonde." John explained. "And she has a pink scarf, that she says she got from her mother. You'll see her once we get in there. If we ever do." He turned back to the door, annoyed. How come it had been locked just after they came? Or something like that. It had been locked.

A student walked behind the two of them, to enter another door. John then saw the same student, through the window in the door, enter the classroom and take a seat. It suddenly spawned on him. This door was a fake. It was a prank. He burst out laughing.

"What?" Tavros exclaimed, surprised. "Why are you laughing? What happened?"

"It was a prank!" John explained. "This door's a fake! The real one's over there!" He pointed to his right, and Tavros wheeled back, past the cobweb-coated lockers, to see another door, that would enter the same room. He did not seem nearly as amused as John did, or amused at all.

"Awesome." He muttered, rolling towards the second door. John followed after him, wondering why the troll seemed so upset.

Once inside, John took the empty seat next to Roxy. He didn't know why he felt prompted to do that, but he did. Her head was cradled in her arms, like she had a headache.

"Hello." She said, looking up.

"Hello." John said in return.

"I guess we have 1st, 5th, and 7th together?"

John nodded.

"Cool."

"Yeah."

"So..."

"Do you have a headache?"

"Yes."

Neither of them could think of anything worthwhile to say, so they stopped talking. Coincidentally, at that moment, the teacher had just begun to write his name on the board. Mr. Janesdad, it read. He was dressed very stylishly, with a fedora and a pipe. The pipe was probably illegal on a school campus, but everyone ignored that.

Syllabi were passed out, and things were done. Second period came next.

John had second period with Dave. It was government. Their first unit was on Voting, what you could and couldn't vote on, how elections worked, the electoral college, which groups voted for what, and all that. They got to pick partners to run for President in a project that would spam until Wednesday of next week. "If it were due on Monday, you wouldn't do it. If it were Tuesday, you'd do it all on Monday night. If it were on Wednesday, you'd do it all on Tuesday night. And so on. Unless I assigned a bunch of homework Tuesday night, which I can, because better judgement prevents from assigning homework on a Monday. Besides, it's your first project and you should have a while to complete it."

John and Dave decided to run as a third party, called the Sane Party. They didn't plan to start on it, however, until the weekend. That was unspoken. No one planned to start their project during the week.

Third period was next. Math, with Ms. Empress. That went by dully. Empress was mean, strict, and vain. She assigned a lot of homework.

Fourth period came after. It was Dark Arts, with Ms. Roxysmom. She managed to be no less intimidating, and the desk she had blown up had been replaced.

Then came lunch. Jade had found their table this time, and occupied the fourth seat, where Karkat's book bag had previously sat. "I signed up for the robotics club." She said.

"I tried to warn her." Dave said.

"I don't get what's wrong with him." She stated. "I mean, really, it's just puppets."

"I agree with her." Karkat said. He places the roll he had been trying to eat (in vain; it was too stale) back on his plate. He should have brought lunch from home, like John and Jade had thought to do. "I mean, people like what they like, even if what they like is nightmare fuel."

"But you haven't seen them." Dave reasoned. "You have been entrenched in them. You haven't been fuck deep in puppet ass."

Meulin showed up at the table again, handing Karkat the paper and pen. "Would you like to join the shipping club?" Horuss wasn't with her this time, but John could see him on the opposite side of the room, trying (and failing) to reason with a very angry Sollux. Life with a lii2p was hard enough as it was, but being asked to join the shipping club two days in a row was too much.

"Fuck no." Karkat pushed the paper and pen to Dave, who sat opposite him. "You want to crawl in around in cats and robot parts?"

"No." Dave handed the paper and pen to John.

"I don't mean any offense, but I'm not really interested." John shrugged shyly. "You've actually already come by us, yesterday."

"I did?" Meulin looked puzzled. She bolted upright suddenly, her eyes flashing purple, and then returned to her normal position. "Oh yes, I did." She took the paper and pen back, and went on to the next table.

"What the fuck was that?" Karkat exclaimed once she was out of earshot.

"I have no idea!" Jade responded.

"Her eyes were purple!" Dave threw up his arms, then buried his face in them, pushing aside the styrofoam plate containing several unsavory substances that might be interpreted as food.

John just stared at his lunchbox in blank surprise. What the heck happened? What was going on? She was normal as she ever was one second, strange and purple-eyed the next, and then normal. She had seemed to gain information from that, too.

"Okay, okay." Karkat took an apple from John's lunchbox and bit into it (an assumed "yes, you can have my apple, Karkat; thank you for asking") "Let's think about it logically here. She got information from that, which is probably why she did it, or she did it to see if we were lying. But it didn't look like she did it. Who do we know that has purple psychic powers. Or just dark powers in general?"

"We know Rose." John said. "She's probably the only person in the school into dark magic. Shame, really. When she was so good at knitting. She needed a hobby outside of doom and gloom."

"Perfect." Karkat responded. "Does anyone know how to contact Rose?"

"I have first period with her." John exclaimed. "I can talk to her tommorow!"

"Great." Dave chimed in. "Except that's a terrible plan. What are you going to say? Hey, why did you possess this cat girl for a second or two? No, we need a plan. We don't have first period tomorrow anyways."

"We don't?" Jade asked. "Why?"

"We only have even-numbered classes on Wednesdays." Dave explained, pulling out his schedule. "You have an hour and a half to go to clubs or catch up or do a test you didn't do or whatever, then you go to second, then advisement, where you get advised, I guess, then fourth, then sixth. You go to whatever lunch your fourth period has."

"My fourth period's Lit." Jade said. "Which lunch is that?"

"Which teacher?"

"Janespop."

"No clue."

"This brings an interesting question." Karkat stated. "Who has lunch with me tomorrow? And how will I know that, if it doesn't say so on our schedule? Do we just ask our fourth period teacher when we go by there, like we did yesterday with fifth?"

Dave shrugged. "I guess so."

"I have Roxysmom fourth." John said. "I don't think she'll tell us which lunch we go to. She's kind of like, really strict. And also really secretive."

"Who has Psionic for advisement?" Karkat asked.

No one did. John had Dirksbro; Jade and Dave had Darkleer. Karkat had a fit of rage.

"What do we do during the hour-and-a-half long blank thing at the beginning?" Karkat grumbled. "It's not like any of us need to catch up with anything."

"I say we all just congregate at this table, like we did this morning for breakfast." John offered.

"I second that motion." Dave said. "We can also find Rose during that half-hour period, and ask her what the heck is going on."

"You just said that was a stupid idea." John responded.

"I know." Dave sighed. "We could ask Kanaya."

"I second that motion." Jade said. "And I third the other one."

"Do I have to fourth the motion for it to carry?" Karkat asked. "Or..." He looked at the other three, who didn't say anything. "I fourth that motion. Also I guess I third the other one. Everyone happy?"

"I fourth the second motion!" John said. "Now they're both carried!"

"Perfect!" Jade high-five him.

The bell rang shortly after, and John and Jade headed to art. Dave headed to Math, and Karkat was swept away by the flood of students going to Darkleer's.

They had introductions in Art again. John assumed that introduction, to Mr. Dirksbro, was a form of art. An ironic form of art. They each had to say one thing that they had never told anyone else before. Cronus took inspiration from other people's works on occasion. Mituna suffered a terrible accident that caused him to lose his sanity. Everyone knew that, but Mituna didn't know everyone knew that. John had no idea what to tell everyone. He stood there for a minute or two. "I once saw someone be possessed, or something like that, for a short period of time. It was at lunch. She was asking me and my friends to join a club, but she had already asked us. So we told her that, and she was confused, but then she bolted upright and her eyes fl-" Jade tugged on the hem of his shirt, shaking her head. John sat back down. "The end." How could he have been so stupid? He wanted to pummel himself.

"My twin brother John hallucinates on occasion." Jade said, and sat back down. She was so resourceful.

Roxy stood up next, unsure of what to do. "Um." She didn't want to tell them she wrote wizard fiction, and she definitely didn't want to tell them she was an alcoholic. "My sister is into the dark arts." Why did she tell them that? She wanted to pummel herself. Rose was going to kill her, and that might or might not be literal. "No one tell her that I said that, okay?" she added hurriedly, sitting down. It might have been her imagination, but she saw one spider-like girl in the corner of the room grin, in a somewhat evil manner.

It better had been her imagination.

John thought he saw a spider-like girl in the corner of the room grin (in a somewhat evil manner) as Roxy sat down. But no, he didn't just think this. He knew it. He had to stop her, to defend Roxy. But how many people could she tell sixth and seventh period, the rest of the current period, and Wednesday, if John never found her in the morning? A lot. He had to stop her, to find some way to stop her, in order to defend Roxy! And Rose also, he guessed.

As these facts were short, they all had to prepare introduction speeches on notecards for the rest of the period. This was due on Thursday, so it was essentially doing homework in class, which John was fine with. They were allowed to talk.

"What did you think of that girl Damara's fact?" Jade asked, almost ashamed that she had listened.

"I don't speak Japanese." John responded. "I have no idea what she said." He turned to check on the girl in the corner, who wasn't working with anybody. She wasn't talking, but instead writing like a monster. She had a pile of notebook cards five inches high.

"That's for the best." Jade sighed with relief. "What are you going to include in your speech?"

"I have no idea."

"Me neither."

"But you have so many interests!" John argued. "I like pranks and programming, of which the latter I suck at."

"I know." Jade sighed. "I guess I shouldn't really be complaining. Hey, wanna work together on these tomorrow morning?"

John checked the spider girl near the back again. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Why? Did you have so preoccupation you neglected to mention at lunch? Or did you find a preoccupation just now, while I wasn't looking?"

"I guess I found one just now." John said, turning to check of the spider girl again. He didn't know why, but she just reeked of untrustworthiness. Anybody in the class could tell anyone about Roxy's sister. But that girl seemed like she would tell everybody, for her personal benefit.

"Who ya lookin' at?" Jade turned her head to face the spider girl as well. "She's Aranea. You developing a crush?" She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively at John.

"No!" John exclaimed.

"Then what?" Jade asked.

"Well, you know how Roxy told everyone not to tell about Rose?"

"I didn't know Rose was Roxy's sister."

"She is. I heard her and Dirk talk about it in gym yesterday."

Roxy heard this, but she chose not to say anything. Why had he been listening in on them?

"John, that's pretty creepy."

"I didn't mean to. Dirk was just so loud, and her voice was just so... Never mind. Moving on. Anyway, she had this evil grin when Roxy finished."

"I'm not sure I exactly believe this." Jade said. "I mean, I do believe that she could've smiled evilly, but do you need to like protect this girl you're creepy for or something?"

"No, it's not like that." John tried to explain. But it was exactly like that. "It's just like, this is the right thing to do, you know?"

"And what's your plan?"

John hadn't thought of that. "I don't know."

"I'll come with you!" Jade offered. "We'll be sure to think of something together!"

"Thanks." John turned back to the corner of the room, where Aranea still remained, writing continuously, wearing her pencil down to the nub. It was almost obsessive.

The rest of fifth period passed, and they went on to sixth. Darkleer assigned a book with a hopelessly long title, and the people who hadn't brought their syllabi back made it possible for everyone to sit in the bleachers and do nothing once again. Everyone silently saluted those people. After that, it was a mad dash to the buses.

Wednesday was going to be hell.


	3. Double Witch Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Jade search for Aranea. Dave, Karkat, and Terezi search for Kanaya, and Kankri is a huge bastard. Also other stuff happens later in the day, but not much of importance, except that bit at the end there, when Karkat talks. And that last sentence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this lived up to everyone's expectations! I don't think I did so well on it, but I didn't think I did so well on the first two, so you never know. 
> 
> I have, last I checked, six kudos on this, and one comment telling me it was 10/10. I cannot describe in words how grateful I am for this. I've never been recognized for anything before, and suddenly strangers on the Internet like something I do, and it's presumably not out of pity. Just... thank everyone so much. It's like never hearing music your entire life, and then hearing a symphony in person.i have no words to describe my thanks.
> 
> Also, if each chapter stays the same chronological length, this'll be 180 chapters. Or just something chapters, if I end it at homecoming, which I probably will now that I've given myself the idea.

Karkat was glad no one was nearby, only that sweaty horse guy and the cat girl. He put his name on the paper without saying anything. It's not like any of them would find out anyway, unless Dirk happened to be as evil as Dave said he was. And Karkat doubted that. Dirk seemed like a nice guy.

==>

John didn't waste time with attending breakfast Wednesday morning. Where would a spider-girl be? He trodden down the relatively empty halls of the school. He supposed she could be in the cafeteria, but somehow that struck him as unlikely. Jade meandered along behind him, casually observing the hallways.

"She might be in a club." Jade said. "I mean, it's not like we have any other leads, so we might as well go with that."

"Which club would she be in, though?" John inquired. "Is there a spider club?"

Jade shrugged. "It's not like we're going to find her like this."

"What clubs are there?"

"Robotics, Shipping, Beta, Chess, FLA, which is the Future Leaders of Alternia, Gardening, uh... Probably book club. Oh, and the NSFW club. If Eridan wasn't kidding, of course."

"I think he was trying to seduce you."

"Yeah, probably so." Jade shrugged. "He does that to everyone. He's a creep, just like his brother Cronus. Can you believe either of them? They're sex crazed dogs, practically. Not dogs, though. Dogs are nice. Seahorses. They're sex-crazed sea horses."

"That's not an analogy anyone has used ever."

"I'm pretty sure someone has used that analogy. I mean, with the population of more than 7 billion, and people say things every day. People say a lot of things."

"That's insensitive to mute people." Someone unnoticed had been walking behind them. John and Jade wheeled around to face the troll, who, disturbingly, turned out to be Karkat's older brother, Kankri. "If a mute person heard you say that, how would you think they felt? Do you care to blather your mouth about sight in front of the blind? Do you care to sing your joys of hearing to a deaf person? Do you care to do a lively jig in front of someone paralyzed from the waist down?" He went on like this for a minute or two, and then started to give John a lecture on the danger of not using trigger warnings. "You could hurt someone's feelings or worse," he explained. "You might cast dishonor upon his family. Or her family. Or its family. Of xir family. Et cetera. Or you might drive them to be depressed, and they might commit suicide! Ever think of that, you lousy egghead? No offense to eggs of course." Whenever John tried to walk away, Kankri blew the whistle hanging around his neck, and yelled at John until he came back.

This was quite the predicament he had gotten himself into. He motioned silently to Jade, to tell her to go on and keep looking, but she didn't understand/register the message.

"Hey look!" John shouted suddenly, pointing behind Kankri. "It's Cronus bullying Mituna!"

"I'm not falling for that again." Kankri didn't even turn around. "You've got to learn basic courtesy for others. I don't mean any offense to you by saying this, but you're rather thick headed, and you don't always register that others can be hurt by the words you say. You must tell them of any triggers you might bring about." And so on.

"Hey, uh, that's great and all..." John finally found the courage to interrupt. "But I kind of have an issue I need your help with, involving such insensitivities, actually."

"Is it of as dire importance as the amelioration of your incompetence?"

"More so." John assured him. "You see, there's this girl, and she has this secret, I think. And another girl essentially threatened to tell it, and is going to unless we find her."

"Who are these girls?" Kankri's interest was peaked.

"The criminal here is Aranea, and we need to know if she's in any clubs or where I can locate her."

"That villainous spider-devil!" Kankri exclaimed. "I knew she was not to be trusted. No, its really my fault at this point, for holding you so long. You should have just asked me originally. You see, if I am informed of such things, I can act upon them, just as any troll, if informed of a thing, can act upon that. As I was not informed, I had no way of knowing. Information is a necessary facet of society, really, and-"

"We know." Jade moaned. "Do you know where she might be?"

"She's in book club, but they don't meet on Wednesdays until nine." He informed them. "I have no idea where she could be at the moment, other than with Meenah. I wish you the best of luck in finding her." Kankri then left to do whatever it was he set out to do in the first place, leaving John and Jade in the hallway alone, which was perfectly fine with them.

"How do you think he knew that?" Jade asked, after he was out of earshot.

"Knew what?" John inquired.

"That book club meets at nine. Or that Aranea's in it. Or that she'd be with Meenah, whoever that is."

"Probably just experience."* John replied.

"So, what do we do now? She could be anywhere."

John shrugged. "We need to find where Meenah would be, I guess. I wonder if anyone would know where Meenah is. Does her name sound familiar at all?"

Jade shook her head. "I guess we need to ask around."

The duo then headed back to the cafeteria, to find the remaining two of their group, only to discover that they had went off to look for Kanaya. How could they have forgotten about that? John considered getting breakfast, but he hadn't brought any and the school food's edibility was debatable. They still didn't know where the book club even met, so they decided to ask a bystander.

"Excuse me." John tapped him on the shoulder. "Do you know where book club meets?"

The bystander turned around to face them. In awkward horror, John realized it was Jake English, who would've realized he was supposed to be on bad terms with Jane and therefore John due to romantic tribulations if he were smarter. But he wasn't. So he didn't realize. "I'm mighty sorry, but I really have no clue."

"Do you know where Roxy is, then?" John didn't know what prompted him to say this, but it just felt like something he should know. He was in search of the girl that planned to wrong her, he supposed. That constituted as reason, most likely.

"She's off with Jane to find out where book club meets." Jake answered. "Something about secrets and whatnot."

"That's exactly what we're doing!" Jade exclaimed. "Or, for the same reason."

"What for the same reason, again?"

"Never mind." Jade said. "Can you tell us where they might be?"

"Shucks, buster. I wish I could, but I just don't have that kind of information. I believe they might have said something about going to that upper floor, with Empress's flooded hallway and that."

"Thank you." Jade said, and they walked away, in the direction of Empress's hallway.

"That's Jane's thing!" John shouted, enraged, once they had gotten far enough away from the monstrosity. "He stole Jane's thing!"

"He probably didn't mean to." Jade reasoned. "He's not very smart, and it might've slipped his mind that he shouldn't take other people's catchphrases."

"He is going to die soon." John said. "He is going to freaking die. Jane is going to kill him. I genuinely fear for his well-being."

"He likes fisticuffs, he says." Jade responded. "I think he can take on your sister. Or at the very least know when to run."

"My sister stabs people with giant forks. And he's too stupid to know when to run. How long has he been doing that?"

Jade shrugged. "Jane could probably tell you." She pointed down a hallway, where Jane and Roxy were walking and conversing, and Jane kept threatening to raise her voice, but didn't.

"Roxy!" John shouted.

She turned to face them; Jane did the same. "Roxy, this is John." She introduced the two. "And the girl is Jade. John, Jade, this is Roxy."

"We've already met." Jade informed her. "We're here to help in the witch hunt."

Jane rolled her eyes. "You'll cause nothing but trouble, and you know it. Roxy, let's-"

"No, it's fine." Roxy assured her. "They can help if they want."

Jane complained silently, rolling her eyes and such. She almost stomped her foot in accompaniment, but realized that would cause noise and didn't.

"We have a lead." John said. "Aranea is friends with this person called Meenah, and they might be together. Also, Aranea's in book club, which meets at nine, but we don't know where. And they aren't in the flooded hallway, because you just came down from there."

Jane and Roxy turned to each other, silently saying in the way only best friends can do, "should we tell them?" Roxy nodded her head, and Jane spoke. "We already found them, in Empress's room, where she had let them stay because Empress is close friends with Meenah's mother. You see, they're both sea dwellers. And then Meenah threatened to kill us, with this big pitchfork that she somehow could store in the room. And know I have to fight her after school on Friday, because apparently fisticuffs are the only way to settle things. Aranea won't tell anyone until then, of course. I'm going to get Dirk to take my place in the fight."

John, nor Jade, knew exactly how to respond to that. It had given them all the information they required, and told them how everything was going to play out. Well, unless Meenah was somehow stronger than Dirk, which seemed impossible.

"Why is use of the Dark Arts such a big secret, anyway?" Jade suddenly asked. "I mean, we have a Dark Arts class that's fucking mandatory. What does Rose care?"

Roxy shrugged. "I dunno. Probably just wants to keep to herself, like always."

The four of them just stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"We'll be leaving now, bye." Jade broke the silence, and dragged John with her back to the lunchroom.

==>

Kankri arrived at Empress's room, fully prepared to do what awaited him. Meenah (nor Aranea) looked pleased to see him. "I want some information." He stated. "There was a recent turn of events involving a secret I was not aware of, until recently, of course. You see, a girl revealed a secret, and you-" he pointed to Aranea "-somehow know it! and have threatened to tell everyone. However, I recently learned, on the way here actually, from two girls, that you will not tell anyone until next Monday, if Meenah reigns victorious in a fight against Jane Bakergirl-Lastname. What was the secret? You can trust me, assuredly."

"You really kept it short an' to the point that time." Meenah laughed.

"Of course I did. I want information."

"You ain't gettin' it from me." Meenah said. "And my gillfrond here says she ain't tellin' nobody 'till next Monday, when I win dat fight against Bakerbitch."

"How unfortunate." Kankri mocked woe. "Aranea, do you have any input?"

"Rose Lalonde practices the Dark Arts." She said. "Roxy told everyone in Art class." Meenah alternated staring at Aranea and Kankri, unable to believe that one went back on her promise. She wanted to fight that girl, and she needed reason to!

"Thank you." Kankri smiled. "I will take my leave. I assume book club still meets at nine today, or is it cancelled because it's so early in the year, like last year?"

"Still going on." Aranea assured him. "Have a nice day."

"I wish the same to you." Kankri then left.

==>

"Where the heck is Egderp and Krabkat?" Dave asked once he got into the lunchroom. He and Terezi sat alone together, eating Lucky Charms out of those bowl-type things.

Terezi shrugged, and licked some marshmallow dust off her cheek. Krabby will probably be back in a bit. He's joining shipping club. Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Why is he joining shipping club?" Dave inquired. "How do you know that?"

"I have my sources."**

"Why do you think he's joining it? Wait, no. I know the answer to that. He likes Dirk, doesn't he?"

"That," Terezi conceded, "I cannot tell you. I think it's just cause of romcoms, but we can definitely tease him over that."

At that moment, Karkat took his place beside him, with another bowl-type thing of Lucky Charms, which he handed to Terezi. "Once you finish, we need to find Kanaya."

Terezi nodded, slurping the last bits of her first bowl-type thingy. She tore into the second one greedily, and started eating it out of the bowl directly, like a dog, which is normally how she eats.

"Where were you?" Dave asked Karkat, a hint of humor underneath his voice.

"Waiting in line for the restroom. There's only three in the entire campus, as you know, and everyone who didn't go at their house, because they're all idiots, was lined up for one, myself included. I was at the one next to Mindfang's room, in case you were wondering."

"I'm not buying it."

"Then what do you think I was doing?"

"I think you were off to find Mr. Dirk Strider."

"Why the fuck do you bring this sorry subject again? Are you really just one of those shipping madmen who write a 180-chapter monstrosity to get their ships recognized by the general public, and DirkKat or whatever the fuck it's called is one of your ships?"

"No. Not yet." Dave assured him. "Besides, I don't think you were directly doing anything. You signed up for shipping club, didn't you?" Terezi shot him a 'don't do that' glance, but it was too late. Karkat exploded.

"Why the fuck would I ever do that? You think just because I watch fucking romcoms. I have the unstable, idiotic, and slime-rusted mind to actually join that godforsaken nightmare of a club? Do you even know who's in there? Two, count them, freaky cat girls, one of which has a crush on me, two sweaty horse guys, one green alien freak that threatens to kill everyone he comes across, one green alien freak that doesn't, and an ironic puppet-loving freak show with a sharp sword. No, I didn't join shipping club."

"You joined shipping club."

"Fuck you! Fuck all of you!" His shouting had now gotten the attention of several bystanders, of which Karkat could only name Jake English. "Fuck all of you too, and especially you!" Karkat pointed to Jake. "You ruin everything you touch. Come on, we're finding Kanaya."

Karkat then left the table, fury still steaming off him. Dave, shrugging, followed, but Terezi waited until she had successfully consumed every last crumb of her Lucky Charms. This, fortunately, only took three or four seconds.

"Looks like someone's jealous." Terezi teased.

"Am not."

"Where we headed, anyway?" She inquired.

"Fuck if I know. Didn't we have a plan?"

"The library, I think." Dave said. "But Rose might also be there, so we're going to wait outside the entrance like creeps until. Kanaya recognizes us and comes to ask what we want."

"That's a terrible plan." Karkat stated. Terezi nodded in agreement.

"You got anything better?"

The other two were forced to say no, and they stood outside of the library like creeps. The librarian, Ms. Disciple, kept giving them strange glances, but they were not cast away. They couldn't see Kanaya in there, which they hoped was merely because of Terezi's lick-stains, but she might not have been in there.

"What do we do now?" Dave asked, after a few minutes of nothing happening.

"It was your plan." Karkat snarled. "Why don't you answer?"

Dave shrugged. "Terezi, got any ideas?"

"We need to take a smell-tour through the entirety of the campus." She said. "I haven't done that yet."

"That's fucking lovely." Karkat sighed. "Fucking wonderful. Why don't we all just waste our time, like the fucking incompetent bozos we are?"

"A smell-tour would also help us find Kanaya." Terezi reasoned. "I could smell her Jade blood." She then sniffed deeply, to prove a point. "Candy red..."

"Fair enough." Dave shrugged. "Where do you propose we look, or lick, if you'd rather, first?"

"Kanaya's all smart and stuff," Terezi said, "so she's probably inquiring about the curriculum or something like that." She laughed. "Inquiring about the curriculum. That's gold."

Karkat didn't quite see how it was gold, but he went with it. "Who all has classes with her, other than me?"

"I have Math with her." Terezi said. "Second period, Empress."

"Good." Karkat said. "Now we're getting somewhere. "I have Dark Arts and Government with her, sixth and third respectively."

"I've got nothing with her." Dave said. "But hopefully those three'll be enough."

They arrived at the Math room, to no avail, as they were blocked from entry by John's sister and her friend, who said they had special business in there. No, Kanaya wasn't in there. Scurry along now.

They were going to try Dark Arts next, but shied away at the thought of confronting Ms. Roxysmom.

They then knocked on the door of Ms. Mindfang. Through the window, none of them could see Kanaya, but Dave reasoned that they might as well ask her is she knew where Kanaya went. She did not.

"Whatever." Karkat moaned, after their adventure was over. "I have sixth period with her, and I should be able to ask her then if we're allowed to talk without being turned into toads for the rest of the class."

"Great." Terezi cheered. "Absolutely no progress was made at all, but I still got to explore a good bit of the school! It smelled wonderful, if you don't mind my saying."

"That's great." Dave muttered. "What do we do now?"

"Probably go back to the fucking lunchroom and acknowledge our defeat." Karkat snarled. "I don't have classes with anyone today, unless someone has my advisement or my fourth period's lunch, but those aren't really classes. What the fuck do we do in advisement, anyway?"

Dave shrugged. Terezi laughed maniacally.

"Probably get advised." She said, laughing again.

"What the fuck is so funny?" Karkat grumbled.

"Nothing." Terezi admitted. "I just need to laugh maniacally sometimes."

"Fucking wonderful."

==>

Second period was note resting, mostly. After taking a bunch of notes, John and Dave got to work on their assignment. They decided they would take a moderate stance, and wait for the votes to accumulate. Everyone would vote for them, probably. They didn't know that wasn't how it worked, but they went with it. They won all the provinces. All of them.

Advisement was less interesting. John was informed all the stuff about school he would ever possibly need to know, and was given a handbook and whatnot. He questioned why this wasn't given on Monday. Jake, Roxy, and Dirk were all in his advisement also, along with Meulin and a creepy skeleton-suit guy she kept talking to in sign language when the teacher wasn't looking. He suddenly remembered that he needed to help find Kanaya also. He hoped the others had been as successful as he had been, even if he didn't really do anything. At the end of advisement, Meulin's eyes flashed purple again, but repeatedly, like strobe lights, when no one but John was looking. She needed help. 

John ventured to his fourth period, Dark Arts, to find that it was unoccupied and he had first lunch today also.

He couldn't find anyone to sit with at lunch, which was annoying, but he did see Roxy. Did he sit with her? Why not. He sat next to her, but they didn't talk. They both wanted to, but they didn't.

Fourth period was as intimidating as it ever was, and sixth period was as boring as it ever was. John went home with no sense of accomplishment. Why hadn't he talked to her? He wanted to pummel himself.

==>

Karkat did not know anyone in his second period, nor advisement, nor fourth. He had third lunch, but couldn't find anyone there, either. They must have all escaped to second or first. He felt like Terezi, outcast from the rest of the group by mere schedules. But he did find Dirk to sit next to. They didn't talk. He wanted to talk, but couldn't bring himself to.

Sixth period was where something exciting was supposed to happen. They instead read the grimoire, with death threats looming over their heads. This was supposedly normal. In the end, however, just before leaving, he was able to talk to Kanaya.

"I need to ask you about Rose." He said, walking to her desk as she was packing up.

"What for?"

"Something's been going on, and I don't know exactly what it is."

"Why do you expect me to remedy this, whatever it is, and how? What might this possibly have to with Rose, I might inquire as well?"

"Jeez, always so fucking formal. Do you know Meulin Leijon?"

"I have not heard of her; no."

"Well, she's this cat chick, probably related to Nepeta somehow. You know Nepeta, right?"

Kanaya nodded.

"Well, Meulin was possessed or something temporarily. She was asking us to join this club for the second fucking time at lunch, and we tried to tell her that she had already asked us. She was confused, then she bolted upright suddenly, and her eyes flashed purple. Afterward, she went back to her normal position and remembered that she had already asked us. I think Rose, as she's the only person I know that practices the Dark Arts, might have something to do with it."

"She does not, I assure you. She has no powers within the realm of that."

"Then do you know who or how this might've happened? Does Rose have friends or something th-"

Karkat was cut off by the bell. Kanaya exited hurriedly, hoping to catch the his as soon as possible. Karkat was left confused, without a lead of any sort.

He stomped to the buses, cursing to himself under his breath. He'd get plenty of time to talk to Dirk in shipping club, he assured himself. Probably.

*It was probably Seer of Blood powers.  
**It was probably Seer of Mind powers


	4. Lies and Imminent Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kankri is a huge ass. Aranea is also. That's what they do best. Also shit gets real, and murder is a possibility, though we all hope it doesn't happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I believe I've said this every chapter, but I us not thank you guys enough for not only reading this, but liking it! Special thanks to T-Swaggity and the Gibus Crew (I hope I remembered that, and therefore wrote it, correctly) for leaving two comments. Not only that, they were outstandingly positive. Thank everyone so much!
> 
> I made schedules for the characters. I feel this should be known.
> 
> The next chapter "might" be outrageously long, due to shipping club and Rose developments.

Thursday had not a free period left to chaos, but instead a class. There were four odd-numbered classes after all, so 1st period filled that gap. The five all sat at their table in the corner of the cafeteria at breakfast, conversing what happened yesterday, while they could catch up everyone, especially Terezi, on all events, even if they only had a short timeframe to do so.

"Sounds interesting." Terezi replied, laughing maniacally. "So Mr. Dirk Strider's going to beat this Meenah girl's ass?"

"Yup." Dave nodded. He then added "Not literally."

"I wouldn't honk it was literal if you hadn't said so." Terezi laughed. "But such is life."

"Such is fuck." Karkat grumbled. "What the hell do we do now?"

"That was your worst analogy-type thing ever." Jade said. "Such is fuck? Step up your game, Karkat." 

"No, I'm fucking serious." Karkat growled. "What the hell do we do in this Meulin mystery? Cry ourselves to sleep in woe that we do not have a single fucking lead, or keep trying and ask everybody else we know who can use the Dark Arts? Which is to say fucking nobody because nobody else dares deal with that shit."

"Isn't Dark Arts a mandatory class?" John asked. "For some reason. I'm taking it, even though I don't want to. I also don't want to take math, or lit, but, well... See my point? It's mandatory."

"I saw your fucking point until you rambled like that." Karkat responded. "But sure, I suppose so. Just ask everyone in the entirety of the high school. Except us lowly freshmen, of course."

"We need to find out who would have an incentive against her." Dave stated. "I know you would, bt who else? She seems not to have any enemies, really."

Just then the bell rang, and they all were forced to go their separate ways.

John's period dragged by surprisingly slowly, given that they were being introduced to operation of ovens. Their first unit was food, or first two units, given the division of it into nutrition and practice. Tavros accidentally set something on fire; the smoke alarm went off and Mr. Janesdad had to call the office and tell them the alarm was not cause for worry, as there was no actual fire. John and Roxy got to talk during first period, but they did so rarely. They couldn't think of things to say to each other, which unfortunately is a major barrier in conversation. Additionally, Kanaya almost called John to her table for something, but then immediately regretted it. She and Rose were in an intense debate. He needed to question her on that later.

Third period, as the schedule dictated, came next. Ms. Empress was strict, so they were not allowed to talk. Rose, whom John had not even noticed was in his third period before, kept giving him angry glares, whenever she got the chance. What was her problem? It was most likely related to whatever she and Kanaya were talking about. Somehow he was culpable of something. He could think of two reasons. 1) Aranea went back on her promise not to tell anyone what Roxy told her, or 2) someone else in Art told someone, most likely Cronus. He couldn't conceive reasons outside of Rose's pseudo-secret.

Advisement came next, where they handed in the papers that had had been given to them yesterday, if they were signed. This didn't take long, so they were able to acquire some free time. Dirk and Jake began to talk, as usual, but they didn't seem quite happy. Meulin and Kurloz took their corner. Roxy came to sit with John.

"Hello." John managed to smile. "What brings you here?"

"We have a problem." Roxy answered, nervous.

"You see, Aranea went back on her promise."

John didn't have a response to that.

"I know it's her because only she would write out eleven pages of details, most of them false, on the school bulletin board near the front of the building. She says this was told to her by me, you, and Kanaya. Because we're Rose's friends or something. Also Kurloz and Horuss, which is really weird."

"Shit."

"What do we do?"

"Well..." John began to think about it. "I just have to evade her for long enough, but you're going to have a harder time doing that. Why does she care, anyway?"

"Because most of the deets are false!" Roxy nearly shouted. "And it's on the bulletin board, written in the red ink reminiscent of her blood! That's what it said, anyway. Aranea made it very bright red, too, candy red, so it would stand out!"

"Did Rose see it?"

"Yes. She destroyed it."

"Then problem solved, right?"

"It's still going to spread by word of them. You know that Vriska girl?"

"She's my ex." John groaned.

"Shit, man." Roxy paused. "Anyway, Vriska's telling everybody. She has ALL the information or something. Also this guy named Eridan, to mooch of Vriska's fame, I guess."

"Anyone else?"

"Only them, as far as I know. And the people who know tell their friends, and whatnot. If they care, and know who Rose is. Most of them don't care, though."

"I wonder why Aranea has so much against Rose, or us and Kanaya, I guess. And Kurloz. And Horuss."

Roxy shrugged. "Because she's a giant bitch?"

John laughed. "Well, no matter what, we're in this together."

"That was totes cheezy John."

"I know. I'm sorry." John hung his head in mock shame.

"No, it's not a bad thing." Roxy assured him. "It just means that you watch too many bad movies, which is a bad thing. Do you watch too many bad movies, John?"

"They're not bad!" John countered.

"Omg you sound just like Jake!" Roxy giggled. "You two would probs be best friends!"

"Well..." John said. "I think we would, but my sister's romantic tribulations would get between us and she would kind of kill me, metaphorically."

"Dang. Guess she would." Roxy sighed. "This is like the exact same situation I'm in right now, except without the Jake."

"Yeah. I guess we should fix that."

"Probs."

"Yeah."

"Hm."

"So..."

"Yeah."

Neither of them could think of anything informative to say for a while, until John spoke. "Aren't Kurloz and Horuss Meulin's friends?"

Roxy nodded. "Yep, I think. Why?"

The bell rang, but luckily they were then going to the same place.

"Do you want to sit with me at lunch, to discuss this?" Rozy asked, somewhat awkwardly.

"I was actually thinking you could pull up a chair and sit at our table." John responded. "Five heads are better than two, right?"

Roxy wanted to have some time alone with John, but she consented. It would be better to inform and theorize the group than alone. She pulled up a chair at their normal table in the corner, and they all sat together.

"What brings you here?" Karkat growled at Roxy.

"I want all your help." Roxy answered. "You see, I revealed my sister's secret in Art the other day, and this spider girl Aranea-"

"Jade told us about this." Dave interrupted her. "Not what the secret was, though. But I actually learned in first period, from John's ex. Apparently Rose killed someone or something. Like an orphan, to sacrifice for whatever reason. She went on and on about how Rose was a heartless monster. She said it wasn't her word though, and that it was Kanaya's. And Horuss's. And, of course, for some reason, yours."

"We know it's bullshit, is what he's trying to say." Karkat summarized. "And you're probably going to die when you get home unless we help you. So-"

"So of course we'll help." Jade concluded.

Dave looked distraught for a moment, and then regained his normal composure. No one but John noticed this, but he didn't say anything. It was, of course, curious as to why Dave was upset over Jade's completion of Karkat's sentence, but not entirely noteworthy.

"Thank you all." Roxy said, slightly embarrassed. "So what do I do?"

"Admittedly," Karkat responded, "I have no fucking clue. Pawn off the impending doom on someone else, I suppose? Is Rose friends with anyone?"

"Not really." Roxy admitted. "She mostly keeps to herself. There's Kanaya. Um, there's Aradia, and Feferi. But I don't think this is the best strategy, really."

"Then what can we do?" Jade asked. "I mean, could you like reason with her?"

No one said anything in response, so Jade assumed the answer was no. Rose could just not be reasoned with, it seemed.

"Never mind." Jade slumped back in her chair. "It was just a thought."

"Come on, you know Rose." Dave said. "Always thinkin' it's her way or the highway. Like, she won't admit she's wrong."

"Well," John objected, though somewhat softly, "I think reasoning with her might be an option, but we have to get the right people to do it. Like Aradia and Feferi, 'cause those are her friends. And also probably reason with Vriska, if she hasn't done enough damage. I mean, just think how Rose feels."

"How do we do that, then?" Roxy asked. "Who- I mean where's Aradia, and Feferi?" After a pause, she then added "What does Jane know about this? And Dirk?"

"Dirk was talking to John's sister about beating up someone after school." Karkat answered. "I heard them in the hall. I suppose it's still that fucking Meenah girl from breakfast? Or that Meenah girl we discussed at breakfast, I suppose. She wasn't there at breakfast with us."

"So Dirk said this?" Dave smirked. "Do you have an open ear to Mr. Dirk Strider at all times? I mean, you don't listen to random people going down the hallway, do you?"

"If you give me your shit one more time, you'll find it stuffed in your own gaper hole." Karkat growled. "So shut the fuck up."

"Crap." Roxy muttered. So they didn't know about the new developments. She'd have to tell them in gym.

"I have an idea on how to talk to Aradia." Jade said, changing the sub-subject. "Her boyfriend Sollux has first lunch also, so we could talk to him. And tell him what's going on, and tell him several people's fate hinges on him. Because they do."

Dave could not believe what he heard. "Wait, you mean that lisp guy from math class has a girlfriend? How can he, when he's so angry all the time? And such an ass."

"Jealous?" Karkat smirked.

"No, just surprised." Dave responded, maintaining his cool guy demeanor.

"When?" Roxy asked. "Now?"

"Sure." Jade said. "What time better than the present?"

Jade, Roxy, and John walked off to find where Sollux was sitting, to tell him the good news. Or bad news. It was definitely bad news, but they could probably phrase it like good news if they tried hard enough. Karkat and Dave were left at the table, because they didn't want to come and because they had relatively horrible people skills.

"Yeah, I know." Sollux said once they finished informing him. "AA already told me about this. But I never thought I could help by, here's an idea, telling AA when she already knows. Now can you pleashe fuck off sho I can finish my excushe of a meal in peash? I mean, no offenshe to you or anything, but you probably should've figured out I already knew thish."

Then the bell rang and they went to fifth period.

John hadn't finished his introduction. What did he do? He would probably just make something up, that everyone would believe or something. He had interests. He could talk for a bit at how bad he was at computing, or how much he liked movies. Yeah, that would do, he decided. He was fine as long as Mr. Dirksbro didn't take the notecards and grade them or something.

Cronus talked about what an amazing person he was, and how all the ladies (and men) should like to have him. He was an independent music creator, catering to only a small audience. Thus he listened to music of only the same small audience. He talked about how hard life was for him, and was finally awarded a C- for bragging and complaining too much. Bragplaining too much. Was that a word? Probably not.

Mituna went on about how his life sucked as well, but his was better than Cronus because he wasn't a dick about it. He was asked to sit down for using curse words.

John came next, of course. He talked about his various interests, and he rambled a bit. He hadn't meant to, but he did. At lest his introductory speech was the only one so far that hasn't been narcissistic or riddled with complaints. He was awarded a B+, which John was fine with. Very fine with, in fact.

Jade's speech was much better than his, even though she hadn't written down hers either. She was just so good with people speeches like this came naturally with her. She was awarded a perfect 100, for doing nothing conceivable wrong.

Roxy went after Jade. She stood up nervously, faced the class, and announced "I am willing to accept a zero for this assignment." She then sat back down.

Dirksbro scribbled a 0 in his grade-record-thingy. "Meulin Leijon." He called out. 

Meulin stood, ready to give her speech. John thought he saw her eyes flash purple again, just before she began. Then, multiple times throughout her speech, she kind of came to a half and forgot what she was going to say, and her eyes flashed purple again. Did anyone else notice this, because no one commented on it. Then again, John didn't either.

The rest of art trudged by, with each person giving his or her speech. Aranea's lasted for a seemingly infinite amount of time. She tried to make herself seem friendly and exciting, but the length of her speech made her sound drab and dull, and she was. Horuss's speech ended abruptly when the bell rang. He wasn't doing good anyway, so this was perhaps advantageous to him.

As they walked to gym, John asked Roxy "Why did you just accept a zero?"

"I didn't want them to know about me."

"Why?"

Roxy didn't answer.

"Sorry." John said. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's fine." Roxy assured him. "You didn't know. No one knows."

"About what?" John inquired, then immediately regretted it. "Never mind. Pretend I didn't say anything.

Roxy laughed. "It's fine."

In gym, everybody but three people (Karkat, Dirk, and Gamzee) had brought back their permission thingies to do gym, so they actually had to do things. It was excruciating torture, having to run and jump and whatnot. John and Roxy didn't get to talk, as they were separated into boys and girls groups, reminiscent of the locker rooms.

"So..." Karkat brought himself to make conversation. "When's shipping club's next meeting?"

"Fuck if I know, bro." Gamzee responded.

"I wasn't talking to you, you ignorant fuckhead!" Karkat nearly yelled.

Dirk laughed. He thought he liked this kid. "We meet every Wednesday and Friday, and whenever there's emergency romantic tribulations. You must be that guy Meulin talked about who said you wouldn't, and then did, behind the back of your friends. Like you're ashamed to be a shipper or something. You didn't come to Wednesday's thing."

"I didn't know we met on Wednesday." Karkat growled.

"Well we do." Dirk responded.

"Met what?" Gamzee asked.

"Dammit, Gamzee." Karkat muttered under his breath. How dare that clown ruin the mood... Like there was a mood to begin with. Karkat gave up. But at least tomorrow he could relatively alone with Dirk. Is that what he wanted? To be alone with Dirk? He told himself it wasn't, and that he just wanted to make his own romcom.

The rest of gym passed by without conversation between the two, or three, including Gamzee.

==>

"Rose, we need to talk." Aradia said to her, during government, seventh period. Feferi nodded in agreement.

"About what?" Rose growled. "I know it wasn't Kanaya, and therefore none of these people, but who was it?"

"We don't know." Feferi admitted. "It might be Vriska, but I doubt it. Anyway, we have an idea to make you feel better."

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"Friday," Aradia said, "after school, the four of us, you, me, her, Kanaya, are all going to go to Feferi's house and have a sleepover. I know it won't quell any of this, but it's better than being in the dark by yourself. Besides, Feferi's the one that has all those cool books that you like. And the awesome lusus."

"Sure." Rose nodded. "Might as well spare my sister some wrath. But why? What's your motive?"

"Our motive?" Feferi seemed surprised. "We just care about you. My sister gave me the idea, actually. Besides, no one can cheer you up like my lusus. We all know that."

Rose agreed. "I would say I'll have to ask my mom, but she doesn't give two shits about anything I might undergo."

"That's yet another reason." Aradia said.

==>

Aranea and Kankri say together in Sufferer's Lit class, seventh period. They passed notes to each other, because they were supposed to be reading.

Aranea: The way you write is quite astounding, and I love your twisting of events on the 8ulletin 8oard. Honestly, I wish I could say I wrote it, but I did not.  
Kankri: Thank y9u, 6ut if y9u're trying to persuade me int9 s9me s9rt 9f r9mantic c9ntract via flattery, I'm afraid I must decline. Y9u see, I have my shights set 9n an9ther.  
Aranea: Oh no, that is not what I had meant to say at all, 8ut it is interesting to know you have your sights set on another. If I might inquire, who is he or she?  
Kankri: I am afraid I d9 n9t feel c9mf9rta6le sharing that inf9rmati9n.  
Aranea: That is fine. I understand how you feel completely, but it's not up to you to share that information. Now that I know this, I shall just pry into you and take the information out.  
Kankri: If y9u wish, 6ut y9u must not reveal this t9 any9ne.

Aranea did do, and what she discovered was actually quite curious. Him and her? She just couldn't conceive it. She considered spreading this to anyone with an open ear, but she decided against it, for now. She didn't want Kankri to distrust her anytime soon. She wasn't done with him, after all.

Aranea: That's certainly not what I would have expected.  
Kankri: I am full 9f surprises, aren't I?  
Aranea: Regardless, I feel I should tell you my plan.  
Kankri: I w9uld like to kn9w it.  
Aranea: Meenah has already put it into action, actually. It goes like this: Rose, grief stricken, which was the purpose of these rumors, goes to Feferi's house, 8ecause her lusus is the only thing that seems to comfort Rose. Meenah traps Rose with the lusus, as Feferi and Meenah are sisters, and Rose is forced to make a contract with the lusus. She gains the power of the darkness and horror terror, and everyone who dares oppose her is no longer a8le to, on account of injury, or, in extreme cases, death. All I have to do is get people on her 8ad side.  
Kankri: I see. Why d9 y9u wish t9 be the 9nly 9ne left in the sch99l, th9ugh? It seems 9dd t9 me that y9u w9uld want t9 undertake this. Is p9wer y9ur g9al?

Aranea was not able to write a response because the teacher picked up the note, crumpled it, and threw it in the trash. "Writing notes in class is not permitted." He said. "Read the book."


	5. All The Right Reasons, All The Wrong Outcomes Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horror terrors are mentioned, and things begin looking grim for Rose, if Aranea's plan is followed through. Kankri also has a plan, but it remains uncertain at the moment. Additionally, Terezi and Vriska are officially a ship I'm adding to the top thingy that details the ships, because I've somehow put them in here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bunch of relatively short segments compounded together, so sorry for that, I think.
> 
> I know I say this every time, but I am immensely grateful for how much support this gets. There are really no words to describe it, so I guess I'll stop trying. Special thanks for T-Swaggity and the. Gibus Crew for his (I am assuming he/she is a guy) high opinion of this. I hope things get better for him (or you, because you'll read this also (that was directed to T-Swaggity, just in case you aren't him)) soon.

"Sounds interesting." Terezi said, after the other four had finished telling her of recent events. "Do we have developments on the Meulin front?" She gulped down the rest of lucky charms, and threw the bowl-type-thing into the garbage.

Dave shook his head. "It's probably not Rose, but we already knew that."

"Do you think these mysteries might be intertwined in any way?" She asked. "At all, even slightly?"

"Probably not." Karkat answered. "They might be, if Aranea knows anyone who makes people's eyes light up purple."

"Oh!" John exclaimed. "That reminds me. During art, we were doing introductions. And she was giving her speech thing, and her eyes flowed purple occasionally, whenever she couldn't remember something, and then she did."

"Yeah, I saw that too!" Jade concurred. "I guess we can confirm it's to tell her things, like telepathically or something?"

John nodded. "Yeah."

"So who's telling her things?" Dave asked. "And why. We can cross off the fact that whoever it is has something against her, which wasn't very likely in the first place, so I suppose it's one of her friends? What friends does she have?"

"Kurloz and Horuss mainly, but really everybody she knows of." Jade answered. "And this person has to be some sort of micromanager-type guy."

"This is really pleasant and all," Karkat interjected, "but I'd like to focus on the fact that we're going to die if any of us come into contact with Rose. We need a way to avoid her."

"Or reason with her." John corrected.

"Or that." Karkat said. "Any ideas?"

"I propose a distraction." Terezi said. "But a distraction that will help us get information out of her. Mysteries are very exciting."

"We already have all the information out of her we need." Karkat growled. "Besides, what are we going to distract her with?"

Terezi shrugged. "As long as we hang the perpetrator after all this is over, I'm happy."

"We're not hanging the perpetrator." John said hurriedly.

"Why not?"

"Because that's illegal and wrong."

"Not if it's for justice!"

"It's a bit extreme, is all."

"Will you two please shut up?" Karkat demanded. "I don't care if we hang the perpetrator, but I do want to not die. Does anyone have any ideas on how to not die?"

No one had any ideas on how to not die. The bell rang while they struggled to think of ideas.

"Fucking wonderful." Karkat groaned. "I suppose we all just avoid her, then." The five of them went their separate ways, off to class.

In Home Economics, they got to learn about nutrition, which wasn't very exciting. John and Roxy didn't get time to talk, but after class, she told him that she had told Jane and Dirk about everything. Everyone had to stay caught up if anything was to be done. John congratulated her awkwardly, and then asked for that to be forgotten, but congratulations didn't work like that. Roxy congratulated him on his efforts.

Government passed slowly. They took notes from a PowerPoint, and filled out a worksheet. They were assigned to finish the worksheet for homework, if they hadn't already. John and Dave were not able to talk.

Math remained boring and pointless, but the teacher was interrupted for a moment by a phone call. This is only relevant because her phone looks like a pink clam shell.

In Dark Arts, John studied the horror terrors, the gods of the furthest ring. Apparently, these were the creatures that allowed dark magic to be possible. Feferi audibly squealed with delight, and, when asked why by the teacher, revealed that her lusus was one. Wasn't Feferi Rose's friend? That either explained how Rose learned the Dark Arts, or why/how they were such good friends. John decided this was relevant somehow, and resolved to tell his friends at lunch. Eventually, Dark Arts ended and he was able to do so.

"Why does this matter again?" Dave asked, when John told them. "Besides, magic is fake as shit."

John couldn't honestly think of a reason it mattered. "I don't know, honestly. It just kind of felt relevant to this case. Like Feferi might do something, to help Rose maybe."

"And what would happen next?" Karkat asked, somewhat angrily. "So Feferi comforts Rose with her lusus. And...?"

"Well, horror terrors are supposed to have magic powers." John answered. "Hang on, let me get my notes." He retrieved his binder from his backpack, and began to flip through it. "They can enhance your magic ability if you succumb to their destructive power. Something something speculated to be related to the video game industry."

"Sounds dangerous." Jade responded.

"Give that to me." Karkat took the binder from John's hands, and read it. "Enhance your magic power, huh? You need to agree to it, which Rose might. And then she's going to hunt down whoever did this to her?"

John shrugged. "I think Rose knows the people listed didn't do this to her, but yeah, once she finds out, Aranea's going missing, which is to say dying."

"That's terrible!" Jade exclaimed. "I mean, she's a terrible person, but death isn't the fate anyone deserves!"

"So we've got to hide this information from her. And not let anybody tell her?" Dave said.

Jade nodded.

"So do we just keep her busy during the day, so she never interacts with anyone, Vriska especially?" Karkat mocked Dave for his seemingly realistic suggestion. "No, we're going to die. She has magic enough already. She'll just get more magic from this evil lusus thing."

"It's worth a shot!" Jade responded indignantly. "I mean, someone's well being might be in the balance! You know how violent Rose gets!"

"Then you occupy her."

"I would, but I don't have any classes with her." Jade sighed. "Who here does?"

Dave raised his hand. "John and I have sixth with her."

"Good." Jade smiled. "You two just have to keep her occupied."

"That still leaves the problem of fifth and seventh periods, fuckass." Karkat growled. "What are we going to do for them? Rose doesn't even have this lunch."

"We'll just hope for the best." Jade responded. "There's only so much we can do, right?"

==>

Kankri finally managed to find Rose and Kanaya in the hubbub of the cafeteria. Second lunch was the least common lunch, on account of classroom interruption, but noise still chorused about the large room, bouncing off its walls and floor, stained with first lunch's garbage. Rose had her head face-down in her arms, and Kanaya wasn't trying to make conversation with her. It was too noisy here anyway.

"Excuse me," Kankri said, "May I talk to you two a moment? I have news that is probably of utmost importance to you at the moment."

"You might." Kanaya responded. "I am not sure, as my friend's life has currently been ruined for her by an anonymous bastard who shows no knowledge of self-restraint or shame."

Kankri almost lost his composure, but didn't. "It really is quite unfortunate. Believe me, as I had once been the victim of such a thing as well, though the type hadn't been nearly as well-thought out or carefully executed. But that is of no matter now. I have news to relay to both of you, but especially Rose, at the moment, regarding the identity of the perpetrator of this heinous crime against his own humanity."

Rose looked up. "Tell me."

"His name is Kurloz Makara." Kankri turned to leave.

"No it isn't. His name was also on the list of criminals who have supposedly revealed this information." Rose objected, nearly shouting.

"Oh dear." Kankri muttered. "I'm afraid, my dear, that the fiend has tricked you. Not to insult your obvious intelligence, but he is smarter than he seems. If he puts his name on there, he immediately won't suspect you of it."

"What's his motive for putting the others on?" Rose asked.

"For Kanaya, is was to turn you against her and only confront Feferi, though it seems that was pointless; He underwent the same thinking process for John and Roxy. As for Horuss, he had an entirely different motive, involving romantic tribulations."

"Tell me them." Rose growled.

"You see, he has a fondness for Horuss, while Horuss has a fondness for another, Meulin Leijon. If they were both turned away by the world and by Meulin, he was certain they would grow closer, and therefore succeed as lovers. It is dreadfully manipulative to do such a thing, but that is his dastardly way."

Rose buried her head in her arms again. "I'll believe you until proven otherwise."

"Thank you for your time." Kankri turned and left.

Once he was gone, Kanaya asked Rose, "Do you really believe him? It sounded convincing to me. It is said by Karkat that he does have a certain uncanny ability to know the involvements of others."

"I do." Rose admitted. "It doesn't seem like there's more out there to know."

This troubled Kanaya. Rose was always emphatic about knowledge. There was always more out there to know, according to Rose. But she didn't say anything, or risk sinking Rose deeper into depression.

Kankri took his seat next to Eridan at the loser table in the corner of the cafeteria. "How'd it go?" Eridan asked, sampling a fish stick graciously offered to him by the lunch lady. "Do you want my lunch, by chance?"

"It went well." Kankri responded. "She'll finally put Kurloz to justice."

"So it was Kurloz?" Eridan asked. "I was under the assumption that it was-"

"You would be under an assumption." Kankri interrupted. "Of any sort. That's your kind relies upon."

"Excuse me!" Eridan objected. "My kind? I'm one of the highest and most noble blood castes, and you! You're just a fuckin' mu-"

"You're desperate." Kankri interjected again. "Your kind is the desperate."

"I'm glad we have each other to keep company."

"I'm not."

==>

Third lunch was much more eventful for the populous. The two legendary scourge sisters threatened to duel, right there in the lunch room! Something about a mystery. Nobody in the crowd cared for anything but the resulting fight.

"Stop spreading this slander, ruffian!" Terezi proclaimed. "Or else, dare I use pirate terms, you'll walk the plank, hands tied, to drown in the brine!"

"You've never even been on a ship!" Vriska objected. "Besides, what if they aren't lies? What if I'm the only one who can see? It's like I've stolen the sight from everyone, especially you!" She smirked at her deranged pun.

"Too far." Terezi reached for her cane.

Vriska reached for her dice.

Mr. Sufferer came between them both at the last moment. "You're both getting suspended if either of you makes one more move. For now, only both your lusii are getting called. We will have no fights in the cafeteria. Do you understand?"

"She was spreading slander!" Terezi objected. "She, even after the dreaded articles were destroyed, continued to create rumors about another student! She is not a good person."

"She was attacking me for no reason!" Vriska interjected. "She just waltzed up, with that deadly cane of hers and started threatening my well-being! That's probably illegal, right?" She smirked.

"I'm not sure who to even begin to believe here." Sufferer groaned. "Listen, I don't think she attacked you for no reason, so I'm more likely to side with Pyrope, but attack is still not a good way of settling any matter."

"Ten eyes." Terezi muttered under her breath.

"Blind freak." Vriska muttered in return.

"Did I hear something?" Both of them assured him he didn't. "Good. You're coming with me to the office to explain to your lusii, via phone call, what you've done. Honestly, why do I have to treat you like Kindergartners? I feel like I should just give up on life, or, at the very least, completely rearrange the social order. That'll be easy, right? Maybe I could even die in the process. Honestly."

"We're settling this." Vriska mouthed to Terezi as they were dragged down the hallway. "Saturday. My place." She then smiled. "It's good to talk to you after so long."

"Is four days so long?"

Vriska shrugged, or did the best shrug she was able to under the grip of Mr. Sufferer.

"Nice to see you too."

==>

In art, John was forced to undergo more introductions. Today, they all sat in a circle and played a school appropriate form of 'Never Have I Ever', in which, if you have ever done the required thing, you get a point. The person with the least points at the end won. It was kind of introduction-like, John supposed. Regardless, it was nice to have a break from the stress of the rest of the day.

Roxy had never ridden an airplane. Roxy had never kicked her lusus. Roxy had never been to the beach. Roxy had never eaten a sandwich composed more than five green items. Roxy had never played Ghostbusters RPG (John made a mental note to introduce her to it). Roxy had never broken her leg. Roxy had never done a lot of things. Roxy didn't win, but she almost did. It turns out she had had a cat. Instead, Aranea achieved victory and received one atomic sour jawbreaker.

In Lit, they weren't allowed to talk, per normal. Aradia kept looking around the room, as if watching for something. She was eventually reprimanded by the teacher, but didn't stop. He didn't notice. John almost asked her what she was searching for, but didn't.

In gym, John felt like an anvil had been dropped on his bones. Karkat had also made the mistake of bringing his form back, signed by his lusus, and suffered the same fate. Karkat kept glancing towards Dirk, who was still on the bleachers and form-less. John observed as rage mounted within him. He almost inquired why this might be, but thought better of it.

On the bus, he talked to Jade, trying to keep his voice audible above the ruckus that raged around him. "Despite my better judgement, I kind of wish we could go back tomorrow." He said.

Jade nodded, understanding his plight. "Yeah; Aranea needs to be brought to justice, but still saved from the fate Rose would might inflict upon her. To be honest, I kind of feel the same."

That actually wasn't the reason, but John felt selfish saying so. So he didn't. He kept his emotions to himself, and focused on the road ahead, even if he could barely see it above the bus driver. He wanted to go back for all the wrong reasons... But they were all the right reasons too.


End file.
